It is common for a user to access media on a handheld media device such as a smartphone or tablet. Such a device is well suited to personal consumption of media. In some circumstances a user will want to share content that they have found on their handheld media device with others. In such a circumstance the display of the handheld device may be too small or have too small a viewing angle to make group viewing comfortable. Further, the speakers of the handheld media device may not be powerful enough to allow all the other users to hear the content. To address this scenario, some media devices allow media playback to be easily transferred from a handheld device to a television.
Samsung™ Swipe It is an application available for Android and iOS devices that allows a user to select content on their handheld device and select it for playback on a Samsung Smart TV. To enable this feature, a user must activate respective apps on both the handheld device and the Smart TV. The user must then pair the TV and the handheld device using a code displayed on the TV. The user may then select a video or picture on their handheld device and using a swipe gesture transfer the display of that content to the TV. To allow this feature to work both devices must be connected to the same local WiFi network.
Apple™ have a similar feature in iOS called Airplay. While a user is consuming content on a handheld iOS device, the user can select to also output the content on an AppleTV, if one is available. The selection is made from a menu which can be brought up during playback of content on the handheld device.
These implementations do not address how to resolve a conflict of interest between a program already being displayed by the TV and content that will be transferred thereto from a handheld media device. There is thus a need for an improved method and apparatus for exchanging video between media devices.